Love thine enemies
by tabbiecat
Summary: Trapped in the rubble of Grimmauld place; can Sirius obey this command?


I opened my eyes to see a man, dressed in black and brown bending over some rubble about a room's breadth away. Something ached just behind my eyes and I gingerly raised a hand to touch my forehead. It came back sticky with dark blood. I stared in surprise and put out my tongue to taste it. In wonder I felt again at my head. A grunt escaped my lips as I touched the tender area and my head exploded in pain and my vision with stars.

Through them I could see the man straighten suddenly and turn around. His features were too blurred to make out but as he hurried across I realised I had no idea who he was. By the time he had reached me my vision had mostly returned. He was wearing a scowl on his face, and his first words to me were;

"Well Snape? Happy now you've got us in this mess? I thought you were supposed to be so 'in' with Voldemort that this didn't happen. Or perhaps you're not really the man Dumbledore would have us think you were?"

I gaped at him. I was completely confused and I hoped my face said as much. I tried to shrink away from him slightly into the wall behind me. However the slightest movement sent my head spinning and I felt a wave of nausea sweep over me. I retched and the man rapidly threw himself backwards, his face a mix of emotions, but, I felt, they held more compassion than before. Then I vomited and spent only a moment repulsed by the smell filling my mouth and nose before I fainted.

I think he must have caught me as I fell. I'm not sure.

HPHPHP

Thoughts swam in and out of focus as my fogged mind groped its way towards the surface. I could hear heavy breathing nearby and the occasional cuss. Blearily I cracked my eyes open and saw that I was in the same room as before, the man now just to my right, shifting some more boulders. In the time that I had been unconscious he had draped an old curtain over me. Cautiously I breathed in through my nostrils and gagged at the sickly sweet smell of vomit.

He turned then, apprehension covering his features. "You gonna be sick again, Snape?"

I figured he was talking to me. I swallowed and shook my head numbly. I tried to shift into a more upright position and again pain tore through my head, shooting through my eyes and down the back of my neck. I screamed only it came out as more of a whimper. The man was right next to me then. Gently helping me sit up. I didn't think he seemed very practiced at it. His movements were rough and uncertain, slightly awkward.

I sagged against his chest, one of his arms encircling me as he reached with the other somewhere behind me. There was a grating sound and I felt a puff of dusty air at my back. Slowly he helped me move backwards so that I was leaning against the cool pile of rubble, my sore head resting on the palm of his hand. I turned slowly to face him. I thought it must have caused his hand to grate against the rock.

"Your hand..." I slurred, finding it difficult to get my tongue to make the right noises. He looked at me quizzically. I tried again. "Your hand...my head...must be sore."

"Not as much as your head mush for brains." He chuckled then. And then he deftly changed a small rock into a cushion. I gasped.

I didn't notice the frown he sent in my direction.

Carefully he raised my head and set it down with only the slightest bump against the cushion. However even this was enough to send my world spinning again. I groaned and shut my eyes. I felt so tired.

"Snape..." The man sounded reluctant to speak. I cracked my eyes open again and flickered my gaze over in his direction. "Snape, do you know who I am?"

I frowned slightly. Who he was? Was I supposed to know? I tried to remember. Vaguely I felt I should know should be able to tell him. But I couldn't find the memory.

"No. I can't remember." I whispered.

He nodded then, and reached out a hand to squeeze my arm. "That's ok. Do you know where you are?"

This was easier. "No. Are we trapped?" I asked my voice dry.

"Just for the moment." He answered, "But someone will find us soon." He pulled a slight grin. "Or I'll dig us out. Maybe Kreacher will bother to do some clearing up."

"Kreacher...?" I whispered, furrowing my brow as I tried to remember. Somehow I felt I should know what this was too.

"Don't worry." He paused then. I could tell he was wanting to ask me something else. I flicked my hand towards him, inviting him to continue. "Do you... Can you... Er. Can you tell me who you are? What I call you?"

I opened my mouth to reply. This would be obvious. And froze, blinking at him, my mouth paused in answer. I couldn't remember.

I think he realised before I did. I guess he had already known, otherwise why would he have asked the question? But this was something important! Something I shouldn't have forgotten. My stomach clenched in fear and I felt betrayed by hot tears pricking at my eyes. I tried to swallow past the sudden lump in my throat and a memory flashed through my mind of me crying in front of two boys who were laughing at me. I fought against the sob rising in my throat. I hadn't cried for years and I didn't want to begin again now! It was embarrassing and humiliating.

The man was blurred by my tears, but I saw him move towards me. He squeezed my arms, "Shh, it's ok Snape. It's ok. We'll be found soon and everything will be put right again. It's not a big deal. I promise."

"I don't want to cry." I sobbed, trying to avert my gaze and hide my face from him. "I know it's stupid."

"Shh. It's alright Snape. It's ok to cry, it's alright. You're going to be fine." He was rubbing his hands up and down my arms.

I tried to stop, choking on my sobs. I sounded like a little kid. _Like Snivellus._ "I'm so-sor-ry." I wailed, sniffing and snorting. My head really hurt now.

"Don't be sorry."

Finally I was able to stop. I let my eyes slide shut, my head was pounding and even the dusty dimness of the room felt too bright. He was still there, sitting next to me now. I was resting on his arm which he'd slid behind me. I sighed, the memory presenting itself again... Two boys with black hair and wands. 'Snivellus' they'd called me. I could remember now.

"My name." I paused; it sounded right but also somehow wrong. I felt him tense beside me. "My name is ... Is... Snivellus." I whispered exhausted.

He didn't say anything so I opened my eyes to peer sideways at him. He looked terrible, his face open with shock and, then, inexplicably guilt. I blinked at him. "Am I right? I can remember..." I breathed again, darkness seeping into the corners of my vision. "Can... They said... They had wands." I realised something then and the surprise made me flicker my eyes open again. "I can do magic!"

I think I fainted again.

HPHPHP

I jerked upwards, startled into consciousness. Someone was swearing and I felt slightly sick. I frowned as I tried to remember. My head hurt and I couldn't think why. My eyes felt gritty and I remembered I'd been crying. Someone else had been there and I'd forgotten who I was.

No! I had remembered! But what was it I'd remembered? I opened my eyes and gazed around. I spotted the man from earlier. He was the person who had sat beside me. He knew me. I stared at him as he pulled himself up from the floor, swatting at his trousers and top; clouds of dust billowed off him and he started coughing, swearing in-between coughs.

Another noise came then. Someone's voice. High pitched, a girl's. I was immediately alert. So was the man. He leapt forward and I noticed that above the rubble in front of him a small hole was now at the top.

"Hermione? Harry?" He yelled through the hole.

"Sirius!"

"Thank Merlin! You both alright? That you Arthur?"

"Sirius! You're ok? Unhurt? Thank goodness for that! We had no idea what had happened. Been searching for you for hours now."

"What? What's the rest of the house like? How come it took you so long?"

"It's collapsed all around the kitchen Sirius. Buckbeak's ok though, we think he managed to fly out of it. We found him in the front bedroom. "

"Really Harry? That's great news - thought he might have died. What are you both doing here anyway? Is it safe?"

"No!"

"Molly!"

"We made them let us come Sirius; we didn't want to stay behind."

"Have you seen Snape, Sirius? He's missing and Dumbledore..."

"Er... Yeah. He's here actually, but, well..." he broke off and I stared at him wondering what he was going to say. How do you tell someone that you've lost your memory? How do you know if they even care?

I realised I'd missed whatever he'd said and that the conversation at the hole had obviously ended because he was making his way across the rubble-strewn room to me. I looked at him as he crouched in front of me. "You're Sirius." I still couldn't remember who he was, but that was what they'd called him, wasn't it?

His expression changed then but I couldn't understand it. "I still don't remember," I hastened to add. "But I overheard them talking to you."

He took my hands then and leant forward slightly. "Your name," he paused and I locked my gaze with him, waiting to hear it. "Is Snape. Severus Snape."

I felt confused and tried to take my hands back. What had I remembered then? But he held onto them. "Your name is Severus Snape. Not Snivellus. Never Snivellus. Understand?"

I didn't really but I nodded and he smiled slightly, giving my hands a final squeeze before standing up again. He turned to the far wall and we watched as the rubble began to lift away. We were going to be rescued and people were waiting on the other side as the rubble rose.

HPHPHP

"Mr Black. He wants to see you."

"Me? Are you sure?" The matron nodded firmly.

"Yes. Don't ask me why and DON'T under any circumstances upset him Sirius. I mean it. If I come back in there and find you've been bullying him I will - "

"Yes, yes Madame Pomfrey. Won't happen, I promise." He said hastily, stepping past the angry witch into the room. His back was to me then and I smirked. Clearly the infamous Sirius Black was scared of someone after all!

"Black." He froze then, before slowly turning to face me. And suddenly it wasn't so easy to say the sarcastic comments I'd been carefully preparing. I squirmed, uncomfortable.

"Snape." He cleared his throat, coming to stand next to the bed. "How're you feeling? They said you were back to normal."

I forced myself to hold his gaze, my hand clenching in nerves at the bed sheet. "Yes. I just required a few potions. It is just as well; I don't think I would have been able to live without my memory." There, I had said it. Well, sort of anyway. To my surprise and indignation he laughed!

"Certainly no one else would have been able to put up with an amnesic you! They'd all have died one by one from the shock."

This, at least, had the healing properties of putting me straight back onto comfortable, normal territory. "Really, Black? Shame you didn't then!" I should have stopped there. But like a Gryffindor idiot... "In fact, I seem to remember you did quite the opposite. Couldn't keep your hands off of me. Shame-" I broke off abruptly, flushing bright red. Angrily I ducked my head away, letting my hair fall over my face. Why did I have to ruin everything? Why, whenever I was embarrassed did my slytherin cool and cleverness have to evaporate?

Why, why, why?

"Snape-"

"Still here Black?" my voice filled with bitterness and loathing. "I'm sure your little nephew and his friends can't wait to hear all your stories of the snivelling potions master."

A tissue was pushed into my hand. I slowly closed my fingers round it. I hadn't realised I'd been crying again. Great. Just to add more fuel to the fire.

"I'm sorry Snape. I really am. I hadn't realised," a pause, then a deep breath, "how cruel we were back then. How much of a bully I was. I'm sorry."

I breathed in slowly through my mouth; I didn't want to snort in up my nose which was now filled with runny snot.

"And I meant what I said, Snape. About your name." He hesitated then and I was about to say something when he leant forward and brushed a hand against my shoulder, squeezing it quickly before turning and striding out of the room.

The moment was past, but I had stopped crying. Slowly I mopped up my face and blew my nose. I vanished the tissue. Then I looked up, my face determined. My Slytherin's had probably run riot since I'd been gone - it was time to get back to work.


End file.
